by Jayne O'Donnell and Calum Macleod USA TODAY, USA TODAY

by Jayne O'Donnell and Calum Macleod USA TODAY, USA TODAY

Retailers and global brands faced new pressure to improve the safety of the buildings where workers make much of the clothing sold in the U.S. following a fire in a Bangladesh garment factory Wednesday that killed eight people, including the owner.

News of the fire came as the death toll passed 900 in the April 24 collapse of Rana Plaza, a Bangladesh building housing a number of garment factories.

The parent company for the smoke-blackened Tung Hai Sweaters plant, scene of the new disaster, says most of its business comes from North American and Western European companies, though it doesn't list any U.S. stores or brands among clients,

U.S. chain The Children's Place, which had a factory in Rana, told USA TODAY Thursday that is evaluating the so-called IndustriALL proposal, which would require companies to conduct fire and building-safety inspections and make the findings public. IndustriALL is a global federation of unions.

So far, only PVH, which owns Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, and the German retailer Tchibo have signed on. The Children's Place said the company is reviewing it among other "potential ways to effect meaningful change."

The latest two incidents follow a fire in November that killed 112 people at the Tazreen Fashion factory that churned out low-cost clothing for U.S. retailers including Walmart.

Gap, which last fall announced a four-point plan to improve worker, said Thursday that it isn't "ruling out any collaborative process, including IndustriaLL." A December 2010 fire at a Bangladesh factory that supplied Gap claimed 29 lives. It did not have suppliers in either of the latest building disasters.

Gap had backed out of negotiations on the IndustriaLL proposal in 2012, according to Scott Nova, executive director of the non-profit group Worker Rights Consortium, "because, in the end, Gap was unwilling to make the agreement binding and enforceable," says Nova.

Gap now says it has hired independent fire inspectors based in Bangladesh who have identified improvements that can be made at the factories with which it does business in that country. But Nova questions the use of the word of independent by companies who are paying the inspectors.

Almost all the employees had left work as usual Wednesday evening, but the firm's managing director Mahbubur Rahman, a few friends including a senior local police officer and some staff remained on the 9th floor when the fire broke out, the Bangladeshi newspaper Daily Star reported.

Ripom Muhammed Abu, 26, who operates sweater processing machinery at the Tung Hai factory where the latest fire took place, said that "safety was better here than in other garment factories. We have had regular training including use of fire extinguishers, and fire drills happen at least monthly."

But training can't make up for huge lapses in building safety at Bangladesh's factories, says Nova.

News reports have said the dead were in stairwells. Nova says no building in the U.S. -- or even Bangladesh -- is legal without enclosed stairwells that have fire walls and doors that help those on upper floors escape. "When stairwells are open, instead of being a lifeline, they become a chimney," says Nova. .

Without working sprinkler systems or exterior fire escapes, "this building was clearly a firetrap," says Charles Kernaghan, director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, which is trying to organize Bangladeshi workers. "Clearly the executives of the factory did not have their own exit strategy."

The sweater fiirm's managing director Rahman was also a director of the country's powerful Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). The death of an executive â?? rather than factory floor workers â?? and his BGMEA status may cause this fire to have broader impact.

"I hope the government and industry will make greater changes" than after earlier fires, said Ripom.

Nova, whose group is funded by colleges and universities who want higher standards at factories that produce their licensed clothing, hopes so too.

"It's madness," he says. "It's indicative of the fact these guys are pursuing a strategy that is so high risk, they are risking their own lives."

Said Gap senior director of public affairs Debbie Meshosh, "We are hopeful there is momentum in bringing parties together to achieve lasting change."

Meanwhile, repercussions for apparel brands continued from the Rana Plaza collapse.

Biagio Chiarolanza, CEO of Benetton, has confirmed that his company had bought small numbers of shirts from a manufacturer called New Wave that operated in the collapsed plant. In an interview with the Huffington Post from Italy, he said that at the time of the disaster one of Benetton suppliers in India had subcontracted work to a company in the building.

Benetton had earlier said it had no suppliers in the building, but an April 29 Associated Press photo showed Benetton labels in the debris.

Children's Place also had used New Wave, though said the factory wasn't making any clothing for the company at the time of the collapse. In a statement, Children's Place said it uses "a mix of monitoring resources including our own team and independent, third-party audit firms to regularly conduct social compliance audits of approved factories worldwide."